mgoblog - hjalte froholdthttp://mgoblog.com/taxonomy/term/20990/0
enMonday Recruitin' Fails To Self-Destructhttp://mgoblog.com/content/monday-recruitin-fails-self-destruct
<h3>
Buckle Up</h3>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7438/11053480556_c2912e5270_o.jpg" /></p>
<p>As reported on multiple outlets, <a href="http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/coach-brown-calling-commitment-next-weekend-twitter#comment-2290312" target="_blank">including this one</a>, Michigan is in line to get a commitment sometime this week. Brandon promised the prospect he wouldn&#39;t mention his position, class, or location (or name, obviously), so I&#39;ll say that he is a football player, and his pledge will come as welcome news. This post will self-destruct in 3... 2... 1...</p>
<h3>
[EXPLOSION]</h3>
<p>Darn, I was really hoping that would get me out of writing the rest of this post. The above was the good news. Here&#39;s the bad, <a href="http://recruiting.scout.com/2/1350298.html" target="_blank">per Scout&#39;s Allen Trieu</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">Michigan also recently offered Williams and he was considering a visit to Ann Arbor but he now says he is ready to shut things down. </span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">&quot;As far as right now, I&#39;m done with recruiting. My top two are Notre Dame and Missouri and just want to decide between those two. I&#39;m just trying to figure it out.&quot; </span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span class="storybody">That&#39;s 2014 Berrien Springs (MI) </span>DE <strong>Jhonny Williams</strong>, whom Michigan offered immediately after they missed out on Da&#39;Shawn Hand. Williams took an official visit to Notre Dame last weekend, had a great time, and decided he&#39;d either stick with his current commitment to Missouri or flip to the Irish. So it goes.</p>
<p>A potential backup option to the backup option is WI TE/DE <strong>Gaelin Elmore</strong>. Elmore is a Minnesota commit; 247&#39;s Steve Lorenz reported that Michigan&#39;s coaches <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Board/59424/Michigan-in-contact-with-current-B1G-commitment-23269416/1" target="_blank">got in contact with him last week</a> ($). Brandon caught up with Elmore to get more details, and for now he <a href="http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/bbrown-michigan-touch-gaelin-elmore-again">doesn&#39;t sound like a realistic option</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>I&#39;m not sure exactly what the coaches are planning with Elmore but he was pretty clear with how he is currently feeling. &quot;I&#39;m not really interested in Michigan at this point. It&#39;d just be interesting to see what they had to say.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I don&#39;t know if the coaches were caught completely off guard by Hand&#39;s commitment to Alabama; it sure looks like they&#39;re scrambling to find a suitable replacement in the class.</p>
<p><em><strong>[Hit THE JUMP to see which pair of highly-ranked 2015 targets have Michigan among their top schools, updates from last weekend&#39;s high school football action, and where Wolverine commits and targets stand in the updated ESPN 300 for 2015.]</strong></em></p>
<a name="more"></a><!--break--><!--break--><h3>
2015 Prospect Updates</h3>
<p>2015 four-star DL <strong>Hjalte Froholdt </strong>has moved his recruitment along at a brisk pace despite having to return to his native Denmark for his junior year; he recently named a top three of Arkansas, Florida State, and Michigan, telling TomVH that <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/ncfrecruiting/on-the-trail/post?id=47917&amp;refresh=true" target="_blank">a decision should come soon</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll probably [make a decision] soon,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not really sure when because we keep postponing it to what my needs are. It&rsquo;s very tough to pick a school since they&rsquo;re all so great.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Your guess is as good as mine here; Froholdt has visited all three schools on his list, maintains touch with their coaches via Twitter and Facebook, and likely won&#39;t get to see his future school again before making his decision if he sticks to his timeline of &quot;soon.&quot;</p>
<p>247&#39;s Ryan Bartow reports that four-star 2015 CA WR <strong>Equanimeous St. Brown</strong> named UCLA as his favorite; he rounded out his top four <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Equanimeous-St-Brown-likes-Oregon-Alabama-Michigan-and-UCLA-161826" target="_blank">with Alabama, Michigan, and Oregon</a> ($). I&#39;d love to get my hopes up about a player with such a spectacular name; considering he&#39;s a California prospect with an in-state favorite and two powerhouse programs also among his leaders, however, it&#39;s difficult to be optimistic here.</p>
<p>Michigan made the cut for MN DE <strong>Jashon Cornell</strong>&#39;s top 15, <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/NCFRecruitingMidwest/post/_/id/13941/no-1-ranked-cornell-narrows-his-list" target="_blank">per TomVH</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;After a lot of hours we narrowed it down to Cal, Florida, Florida State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Stanford, USC and Wisconsin,&quot; he said.</p>
<p>Cornell says that there are five other schools &ndash; Arkansas, Nebraska, Penn State, Texas and Vanderbilt -- that aren&#39;t officially on the list, but he calls them dark horse candidates.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Cornell is the #1 overall player in the <a href="http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/playerrankings/_/view/rn300jr/sort/rank/class/2015" target="_blank">updated ESPN Junior 300</a>, which features Michigan commits <strong>George Campbell </strong>(#2 overall), <strong>Damien Harris </strong>(#17), and <strong>Shaun Crawford </strong>(#73). Campbell (athlete) and Harris (RB) are both the top players at their respective positions. The M Block <a href="http://www.themblock.com/2013/11/michigan-targets-in-updated-espn-junior.html" target="_blank">has the full rundown</a> on where Michigan&#39;s various targets stand in the new rankings.</p>
<p>Per TomVH, last week <a href="https://twitter.com/TomVH/status/403347958596263936" target="_blank">Urban Meyer himself</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TomVH/status/403344128936648704" target="_blank">offered</a> <strong>Shaun Crawford</strong>, who said he&#39;s committed to Michigan and focused on finishing out his high school season. Steve Lorenz <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Board/59424/More-on-CrawfordOhio-State-23303886" target="_blank">got in touch with Crawford&#39;s father</a>($), who said &quot;He loves Michigan!&quot;; Crawford grew up as a Michigan fan in a Michigan household, despite his Ohio roots, so unless he visits Columbus there&#39;s little reason for concern at this point.</p>
<h3>
Commit Updates</h3>
<p>Paramus Catholic tallied their first victory over rival Don Bosco Prep since 1999, avenging a regular-season defeat when Bosco&#39;s game-winning field goal attempt sailed wide, <a href="http://jerseysportsnow.com/article.php?story=13112301&amp;county=Bergen" target="_blank">giving the Paladins a 21-20 victory</a> and a berth in the state title game. <strong>Jabrill Peppers</strong> played a huge role in the win over his former school, returning the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and giving PC a 14-3 lead with a 32-yard touchdown catch. Unembeddable highlights are available at the link above.</p>
<p>Top-ranked Lakewood St. Edward <a href="http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/5650478414309799106/st-edward-advances-to-div-i-reg-i-regional-final-shuts-out-austintown-fitch-xx-0/#/2" target="_blank">shut out Austintown Fitch</a>, 28-0, to earn a spot in Ohio&#39;s Division I state semifinals; <strong>Shaun Crawford</strong> starred on both sides of the ball in the victory:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>&quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/crawdad_66">@crawdad_66</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/Me">@me</a> Shaun Crawford had 11 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 reception for a 70 yard TD in a 28-0 playoff win last night.&quot;</p>
<p> &mdash; Steve Lorenz (@TremendousUM) <a href="https://twitter.com/TremendousUM/statuses/404694008850427904">November 24, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p><p>East Lake (Mason Cole, George Campbell) stayed perfect on the year and advanced to their third straight regional final <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/hometeam/blog/football-east-lake-45-pinellas-park-0/19034/" target="_blank">with a 45-0 pasting of Pinellas County</a>. Also continuing an undefeated season was Kenton (Noah Furbush), which <a href="http://bryantimes.com/sports/local_sports/article_f6ee060d-6f85-5cbe-b885-5def297ccff1.html" target="_blank">held on for a 46-43 nailbiter over Bryan</a> to advance to the state semifinals.</p>
<p>Despite getting 17 carries for 149 yards and two touchdowns, including a 76-yard score to open the fourth quarter, from <strong>Damien Harris</strong>, Madison Southern <a href="http://www.richmondregister.com/localsports/x967393645/H-S-FOOTBALL-Pulaski-County-tops-Southern-in-region-title-game-32-28" target="_blank">fell 32-28 to Pulaski County</a> and missed out on a chance for the school&#39;s first-ever regional title.</p>
<p>Per Scout&#39;s Dave Berk, <strong>Tyree Kinnel </strong>tallied ten tackles in a losing effort for Huber Heights Wayne, whose four turnovers doomed them to a 37-7 <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1350412.html" target="_blank">playoff loss to Hilliard Davidson</a> ($).</p>
<p><strong>Moe Ways </strong>posted his final season stats&mdash;55 catches, 1,261 yards (22.9 ypc), and 16 total touchdowns&mdash;<a href="http://instagram.com/p/hCK5YdiHoM/#" target="_blank">on his Instagram page</a>. <strong>Wilton Speight </strong>took home Virginia player of the year honors&mdash;no small feat in that talent-laden state&mdash;after posting 2,900 passing yards, 34 passing TDs, 11 interceptions, and six rushing TDs, <a href="https://twitter.com/TomVH/status/403209655792312320" target="_blank">according to TomVH</a>. Speight has a fan in fellow commit <strong>Jared Wangler</strong>, who&#39;s by far the leader in the clubhouse for <a href="https://twitter.com/Jwangles2/status/403210160144805889" target="_blank">best recruit tweet of the year.</a></p>
http://mgoblog.com/content/monday-recruitin-fails-self-destruct#comments2014 recruiting2015 recruitingdamien harrisequanimeous st. browngaelin elmorehjalte froholdtjabrill peppersjhonny williamsmoe waysrecruiting roundupshaun crawfordwilton speightMon, 25 Nov 2013 19:24:21 +0000Ace83352 at http://mgoblog.comThursday Recruitin' Learns A Little Danishhttp://mgoblog.com/content/thursday-recruitin-learns-little-danish
<h3>
Weekend Visitors: <em><a href="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Danish/Lesson_1" target="_blank">Goddag</a>, Hr. Froholdt</em></h3>
<p class="rtecenter"><em><img alt="" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5547/10333184236_2228871689_o.jpg" style="width: 560px; height: 296px;" /><br />
Hjalte Froholdt (photo <a href="http://247sports.com/Player/Hjalte-Froholdt-32219" target="_blank">via 247</a>)</em></p>
<p>The list of visitors for the Indiana game is short, though it&#39;s headlined by a very important potential member of the 2015 class who could be deciding quite soon. DT <strong>Hjalte Froholdt</strong>, who&#39;s currently playing semi-pro football for a year in his native Denmark, will be in attendance and tells Brandon that a list of top schools <a href="http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/bbrown-quick-update-hjalte-froholdt" target="_blank">will shortly follow his visit</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Froholdt will release a version of his top list after his visit to Ann Arbor Saturday, but he already told me that Michigan will probably be toward the top of his list.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Froholdt has a very strong relationship with Greg Mattison, and as of now his recruitment looks like a classic Michigan/OSU battle, with the Wolverines possibly out in front. The picture may not be that clear, however, as Froholdt is in the midst of a country-wide recruiting tour that&#39;s included Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida State; he pulled in an offer from the Tide following his visit and already had one from the Razorbacks. With a decision planned within the next couple months, this is a very important visit for Michigan, especially with &#39;Bama now very much on the radar.</p>
<p>As noted in this week&#39;s previous recruiting roundup, the other big-time visitor for this weekend is 2015 Cass Tech RB <strong>Mike Weber</strong>. I said in that roundup that Michigan probably wouldn&#39;t take another back given the small class size and commitment of Damien Harris, but I may have been mistaken; with no running back committed in the 2014 class (which is unlikely to change), a second would be a high priority, and the Wolverines are also still heavily recruiting &#39;15 FL RB <strong>Jacques Patrick.</strong> Weber still has significant interest in Michigan and has repeatedly said that he&#39;s not averse to competing with Harris; Michigan State, Ohio State, and Tennessee are all strong contenders, as well.</p>
<p>A couple younger brothers of current Michigan players will also be in attendance: 2016 Cass Tech DB <strong>Lavert Hill</strong>, brother of Delano, and 2017 OLSM LB <strong>Joshua Ross</strong>, brother of James, are slated to visit <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1562450" target="_blank">according to Tim Sullivan</a> ($). Both are very talented prospects in their own right and have been steady presences in Ann Arbor; offers may not come imminently, but both could be Michigan-caliber players.</p>
<p><em><strong>[Hit THE JUMP for updates on Malik McDowell and JuJu Smith, the latest commits to ink their LOIs for 2014, and more.]</strong></em></p>
<a name="more"></a><!--break--><!--break--><h3>
Malik McDowell, Still Ponderin&#39; Visits</h3>
<p>Sam Webb caught up with &#39;14 Southfield DT <strong>Malik McDowell</strong> for his latest visit plans, <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1336908.html" target="_blank">which are still not set in stone</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;I want to go to Alabama, LSU, Florida, and I&rsquo;m still thinking of the last two,&rdquo; he stated.&nbsp; &ldquo;I want to take one to Florida soon -- like maybe Thanksgiving weekend, but it&rsquo;ll matter how I feel and what my parents can do.&nbsp; But most likely the rest of them are going to be taken after the season.&rdquo;</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>McDowell continues not to claim favorites and wants to make his decision at the Army All-American Game. Michigan continues to be the odds-on favorite, especially the longer he goes without pinning down actual visit dates to other schools.</p>
<h3>
Good JuJu/Bad JuJu</h3>
<p>&#39;14 CA ATH <strong>JuJu Smith</strong> is still slated to visit officially for the Ohio State game. After visiting Columbus two weeks ago, the latest update on him is either good or bad, depending on your perspective, and <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1336559.html" target="_blank">comes via Scout&#39;s Greg Biggins</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">Smith said he&rsquo;s not ready to name a favorite but the Buckeyes definitely made a big impression. </span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;They set the bar very high for everyone else to follow,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re very high on my list and I have high standards for what I&rsquo;m looking for and they met them all. It&rsquo;s going to take a lot to compete with Ohio State right now, I can say that for sure.&rdquo; </span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span class="storybody">The good news: Smith seems very willing to leave California and head to the Midwest, and it&#39;s clear that his official visits will have serious bearing on his ultimate decision. Given how recruits normally react to visiting Michigan, that&#39;s a good thing.</span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">The bad news: Is obvious&mdash;he may very well go the Midwest, but not the part of the Midwest that Michigan fans would prefer.</span></p>
<h3>
Signed, Sealed, Delivery Pending</h3>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" src="http://distilleryimage10.ak.instagram.com/2d8eec16368f11e3a32722000aa800c4_8.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 500px;" /></p>
<p><strong>Michael Ferns </strong>is no longer the only member of the 2014 class to sign his letter of intent, as Eastern Christian Academy teammates <strong>Freddy Canteen</strong> and <strong>Brandon Watson</strong> joined him yesterday, <a href="https://twitter.com/beenice20/status/390541967970803712" target="_blank">per Watson&#39;s Twitter</a>. Those three will enroll early, obviously; the other &#39;14 commits planning to do so are Wilton Speight, Bryan Mone, Drake Harris, and Mason Cole.</p>
<h3>
Etc.</h3>
<p>If you missed it earlier today, Brandon posted an <a href="http://mgoblog.com/content/bbrown-michigan-offers-tanner-muse">interview with the latest 2015 offer recipient</a>, NC SLB <strong>Tanner Muse</strong>. Clemson is &quot;somewhat&quot; out in front, in large part due to the fact that he&#39;s already visited, and Michigan is very much in the mix.</p>
<p>Scout released an <a href="http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&amp;p=9&amp;c=4&amp;yr=2016" target="_blank">unordered list of very early five- and four-star recruits</a> for the class of 2016. Allen Trieu has a <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1336770.html" target="_blank">free breakdown of the Midwest prospects</a> to make it, which includes presumed Michigan lock IL OL <strong>Erik Swenson</strong>, in-state prospects RB <strong>Martell Pettaway</strong> and OG <strong>Thiyo Lukusa</strong>, and OH LB <strong>Brendan Ferns</strong>, Michael&#39;s younger brother. Michigan has already offered the <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1337015.html" target="_blank">East region&#39;s lone five-star</a>, NJ DT <strong>Rashan Gary</strong>; also included among the four-stars is Eastern Christian LB <strong>Dele Harding</strong>, teammate of Canteen and Watson.</p>
<p>The M Block <a href="http://www.themblock.com/2013/10/2015-ath-andrew-dowells-stock-rises-in.html" target="_blank">catches up with</a> 2015 OH ATH <strong>Andrew Dowell</strong>, who could be next in line for an offer as a running back should Michigan miss out on Weber and Patrick.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Coach_Riley/status/390173460330053632" target="_blank">This was inevitable</a>, and I&#39;d make fun of it if it wasn&#39;t one of the only ways to productively use Twitter.</p>
http://mgoblog.com/content/thursday-recruitin-learns-little-danish#comments2014 recruiting2015 recruitingbrandon watsonfreddy canteenhjalte froholdtjuju smithmalik mcdowellmike weberrecruiting roundupThu, 17 Oct 2013 20:07:30 +0000Ace82249 at http://mgoblog.comTuesday Recruitin' Graduates (Really) Earlyhttp://mgoblog.com/content/tuesday-recruitin-graduates-really-early
<h3>
The Foolproof Way To Avoid Senioritis</h3>
<script type='text/javascript' src='http://WTRF.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=647670;hostDomain=www.wtrf.com;playerWidth=560;playerHeight=343;isShowIcon=true;clipId=9403070;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=Station%252040;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixed'></script><p><a href="http://www.wtrf.com" title="WTRF 7 News Sports Weather - Wheeling Steubenville">WTRF 7 News Sports Weather - Wheeling Steubenville</a></p>
<p>Michigan has its first official signee of the 2014 class. Impossible, you say? Not if you&#39;re <strong>Michael Ferns</strong>, who can sign because he <em>graduated from high school in three years</em>, <a href="http://www.wtrf.com/story/23663940/michael-ferns-signs-with-michigan" target="_blank">according to WRTF.com</a>. Ferns is finishing his senior season of football at St. Clairsville while taking classes at Ohio University-Eastern and will enroll at Michigan next semester&mdash;the normal time for early enrollees to hit campus.</p>
<p>Other recruits planning to enroll early include Wilton Speight, Bryan Mone, Drake Harris, Mason Cole, and the ECA duo of Freddy Canteen and Brandon Watson.</p>
<h3>
Froholdt, Weber To Visit This Weekend</h3>
<p>The M Block&#39;s Eric Rutter caught up with 2015 DL <strong>Hjalte Froholdt</strong>, who&#39;s playing his junior season in a semi-pro league in Denmark; he&#39;s been able to come back across the Atlantic for visits, however, and after visiting Arkansas last week he&#39;ll be in attendance at the Big House this weekend&mdash;it&#39;ll be a big one, as <a href="http://www.themblock.com/2013/10/2015-dt-hjalte-froholdt-set-to-visit.html" target="_blank">he&#39;s getting close to a decision</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Froholdt has already</strong> <strong>announced a final top group of Arkansas, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State and intends to choose from those schools soon- as in within the next couple months</strong>, although an official date has not been set.&nbsp; Froholdt visited Arkansas on Saturday to watch the Razorbacks host South Carolina for a 52-7 beating.&nbsp; Michigan will get the next crack at impressing Froholdt as he will be in Ann Arbor on October 19 to watch the Wolverines host the Indiana Hoosiers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Head on over to the original post to read Froholdt&#39;s comments about his relationship with Greg Mattison, his primary recruiter. SPOILER: He likes Greg Mattison. Michigan is very much in the hunt to land Froholdt and an impressive visit experience this weekend could put them in the driver&#39;s seat.</p>
<p>2015 Cass Tech RB <strong>Mike Weber</strong> talked to The Wolverine&#39;s Branden Hunter about his <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1560764" target="_blank">relationship with Michigan and upcoming visit</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;His commitment really didn&#39;t affect me at all,&quot; Weber said of [Damien] Harris&#39; pledge. &quot;I grew up liking Michigan, and I&#39;m not scared of competition, so if that college is the best fit for me, that&#39;s were I&#39;m going.</p>
<p> &quot;I talk to Michigan a lot,&quot; Weber said. &quot;I&#39;m supposed to go to their next home game I believe, and coach Singletary wished me luck before the game. Michigan always shows love.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Tennessee are also mentioned as teams showing serious interest in Weber. The issue with his recruitment may not be one of interest as much as it is space in the class; with Harris already committed, I&#39;d be surprised if Michigan takes two running backs unless more spots open up, and by that point they may have a hard time catching up to schools that have the room to tell Weber they can take him at any time.</p>
<p><em><strong>[Hit THE JUMP for the latest 2015 offer and the weekly commit stat wrapup.]</strong></em></p>
<a name="more"></a><!--break--><!--break--><h3>
Tanner Muse Offered</h3>
<p class="rtecenter"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/YZjcSoYdvhE?rel=0" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://www.themblock.com/2013/10/weekend-recruiting-wrap-new-offer-to.html" target="_blank">Also per The M Block</a>, Michigan&#39;s latest 2015 offer is to NC OLB <strong>Tanner Muse</strong>, who said that he &quot;feels very blessed to be offered by such a prestigious school.&quot; Muse is listed at 6&#39;3&quot;, 207 lbs., with a probably FAKE 4.32 40 time on 247, though he looks like he&#39;s got plenty of speed in his highlights (above); he&#39;s a composite four-star who&#39;s being recruited by some other schools as a safety and already holds offers from Clemson, NC State, UNC, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, Louisville, and Virginia. He told Rutter that he&#39;s looking to visit Michigan either for the Nebraska or Ohio State game.</p>
<h3>
Receivers Stand Out In Last Weekend&#39;s HS Action</h3>
<p>It was a good weekend to be a receiver committed to Michigan (if you played, at least&mdash;East Lake and George Campbell had the week off and Drake Harris has yet to suit up this season due to a hamstring injury).</p>
<p><strong>Moe Ways</strong> led Detroit Country Day to their fourth straight win&mdash;after starting the season 0-3&mdash;with four catches for 113 yards and two TDs in a 42-7 <a href="http://www.candgnews.com/sports/country-day-football-team-eyes-playoff-spot-after-fourth-consecutive-victory" target="_blank">beatdown of Flushing</a>. Meanwhile, <strong>Freddy Canteen</strong> tallied five catches for 139 yards and two scores of his own as Eastern Christian Academy defeated Ohio powerhouse St. Ignatius, 32-29, thanks to a David Sills TD pass <a href="http://highschoolsports.cleveland.com/news/article/-5792469454055855663/no-4-st-ignatius-football-stunned-in-the-final-seconds-by-eastern-christian-academy/" target="_blank">with just ten seconds remaining</a>. Fellow commit <strong>Brandon Watson </strong>added an interception at his own goal line in the first half to help the Honey Badgers to victory.</p>
<p>In a battle of unbeatens, Madison Southern fell 21-18 to Pulaski County, but it certainly wasn&#39;t the fault of <strong>Damien Harris</strong>, who had two scores from 50+ yards and <a href="http://www.kentucky.com/2013/10/11/2872548/unbeaten-pulaski-deals-madison.html" target="_blank">put up his usual ridiculous stat line</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The Michigan recruit scored both Eagles touchdowns and, unofficially, finished with 257 yards on 35 carries.</p>
<p>&quot;Oh, man, I haven&#39;t seen anything like it,&quot; Pulaski quarterback Riley Hall said of Harris. &quot;He&#39;s a truck, and he&#39;ll do big things at Michigan.&quot;</p>
<p>Harris just needed some more help.</p>
<p>&quot;I know with everybody it&#39;s &#39;the Madison Southern of Damien Harris,&#39;&quot; Coach Jon Clark said. &quot;But here&#39;s the deal: we&#39;ve got 11 guys on the field. Up until tonight, 11 guys were doing their job. Tonight we didn&#39;t have 11 guys doing their job on offense.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Wilton Speight</strong> completed 14 of 28 passes for 270 yards and two scores and added a one-yard rushing touchdown in a 28-7 <a href="http://www.timesdispatch.com/sports/high-school/scoreboard/football-collegiate-st-mary-s-ryken/article_aad672d0-66d5-5283-b8fb-122487d9adbe.html" target="_blank">win over St. Mary&#39;s Ryken</a>.</p>
<p>Despite playing with a broken wrist, <strong>Noah Furbush</strong> continues to pile up tackles, tallying 12&mdash;including seven solo tackles and three TFLs&mdash;<a href="http://www.maxpreps.com/games/football-fall-13/elida-vs-kenton/10-11-2013-rninRSD5QkKNIXRYgqkTIg.htm" target="_blank">in Kenton&#39;s 48-2 blowout of Elida</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Jabrill Peppers</strong> didn&#39;t have to do a whole lot in Paramus Catholic&#39;s 56-6 domination of St. Mark&#39;s of Delaware, <a href="http://www.maxpreps.com/games/football-fall-13/paramus-catholic-vs-st-marks/10-12-2013-33UDtWCKsE6vncXzRmGlOg.htm" target="_blank">catching three passes for 53 yards</a> and adding five tackles (one TFL) before <a href="http://www.northjersey.com/sports/227557171_H_S__football__Paramus_Catholic_all_business_in_56-6_win_over_St__Mark_s_of_Delaware_business_on_way_to_5-0.html?page=all" target="_blank">sitting with the rest of the starters for most of the game</a>. PC is slated to play live on ESPN2 on Friday against Don Bosco Prep, so you can bet he&#39;ll get more action this weekend.</p>
<p>Other stat lines <a href="http://www.themblock.com/2013/10/weekend-recruiting-wrap-new-offer-to.html" target="_blank">from The M Block</a>: <strong>Tyree Kinnel</strong> had five tackles and a forced fumble for Huber Heights Wayne, while <strong>Malik McDowell</strong> (I know, I know, not a commit) tallied three TFLs among his ten total tackles; the latter line is all the more impressive considering Lawrence Marshall sat out the game with an injury and McDowell himself was limited <a href="http://miprepzone.com/oakland/results.asp?ID=11178" target="_blank">in Southfield&#39;s 14-7 win over Rochester Adams</a>.</p>
<h3>
Etc.</h3>
<p><strong>Jabrill Peppers</strong> is featured in the new <em>First and 17</em> as he and <strong>Da&#39;Shawn Hand</strong> talk about dealing with the attention of being a highly-sought recruit <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/firstand17/2013/10/11/episode-7-the-best-and-the-rest/" target="_blank">starting at around the 4:50 mark</a>.</p>
<p>Our own Brandon Brown <a href="http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/bbrownquick-update-minkah-fitzpatrick">posted a quick update</a> with blue-chip 2015 CB <strong>Minkah Fitzpatrick</strong>.</p>
http://mgoblog.com/content/tuesday-recruitin-graduates-really-early#comments2014 recruiting2015 recruitingbrandon watsondamien harrisfreddy canteenhjalte froholdtjabrill peppersmichael fernsmike webermoe waysnoah furbushrecruiting roundupsterling jenkinswilton speightTue, 15 Oct 2013 14:02:42 +0000Ace82173 at http://mgoblog.comMonday Recruitin' Decapitates, Shows No Remorsehttp://mgoblog.com/content/monday-recruitin-decapitates-shows-no-remorse
<h3>
Commitments Come In Pairs, Volume [I Lost Count]</h3>
<p>Michigan&#39;s 2015 class grew by two highly-regarded Ohio defensive backs over the weekend; if you missed them, here are the commitment posts for <a href="http://mgoblog.com/content/hello-future-shaun-crawford">cornerback <strong>Shaun Crawford</strong></a> and <a href="http://mgoblog.com/content/hello-future-tyree-kinnel">safety <strong>Tyree Kinnel</strong></a>. The pair represent the fifth and sixth commits in the &#39;15 class; to say the pace of recruiting has increased is an understatement:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Commitment no.5 for class of 2014 was Drake Harris, 4 months ago. No.5 for 2013 was on The Weekend that killed <a href="https://twitter.com/AceAnbender">@AceAnbender</a></p>
<p> &mdash; Brett Thiessen (@The_Mathlete) <a href="https://twitter.com/The_Mathlete/statuses/371002726945009664">August 23, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p><p>Adding to that, Michigan&#39;s sixth commitment for the &#39;14 class came when Ian Bunting pledged on April 23rd of this year; their sixth for &#39;13 also occurred during The Greatest Mid-February Weekend In The History Of Mid-February Weekends.</p>
<p>Crawford and Kinnel aren&#39;t just highly-touted players from Ohio; they&#39;re both lifelong Michigan fans, which played a part in each of their commitments. Here&#39;s Crawford&#39;s post-commitment reaction <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1540154" target="_blank">to Tim Sullivan</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;Just being able to run out the tunnel and jump up and touch the sign, I&#39;ve always seen it on Saturdays and finally getting the opportunity to do it is something I&#39;ve always wanted to do,&quot; he said. &quot;I can&#39;t wait to make the Michigan family happy.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And Kinnel talking <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1319020.html" target="_blank">to Scout&#39;s Dave Berk</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all Michigan fans because my dad grew up in Jackson, Michigan,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He just loved Michigan and ever since I was born, he just brained washed me on Michigan.&rdquo;</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>They&#39;ve been groomed for the Maize and Blue; now, do they fit The Pattern&trade;? Of course they do. Crawford <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Shaun-Crawford-Commitment-Reaction-145590" target="_blank">to 247&#39;s Mark Zakrajsek</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;<strong>I will bring my effort, that&#39;s the only thing I can promise right now</strong>,&quot; Crawford said. &quot;With great effort all the great things I do on the field will come. I will play every down like it&#39;s my last because it&#39;s my dream to play on national television on Saturdays. <strong>My goal isn&#39;t to win the Heisman or any personal awards, I just want to be the best teammate I can be and make sure my team and coaches know I won&#39;t let them down.</strong>&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And Kinnel&#39;s high school coach <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1319437.html" target="_blank">to Berk</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;Tyree comes from a great mom and dad,&rdquo; said Minton. &ldquo;<strong>He&rsquo;s from a great close knit family and he&rsquo;s not your typical high school kid that goes out and hangs out.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">He&rsquo;s much more like Braxton [Miller] was as they don&rsquo;t mind staying in and playing a video game or something like that. <strong>He knows there are a lot of bad decisions that are out there and he doesn&rsquo;t want to get caught up by anything like that.</strong>&rdquo; </span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>As for on-field ability, I posted my <a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7439/9576070367_a7b2222803_o.gif" target="_blank">favorite Crawford clip as a GIF</a> and forgot to do so for Kinnel; Kinnel&#39;s coach talked up his instincts and play recognition, and this is a fine example&mdash;watch him play bracket coverage underneath the slot receiver while managing to keep his eyes on the quarterback, then come screaming from the opposite side of the field to stop the QB&#39;s scramble cold when it looked like an inevitable first down or even touchdown:</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3680/9598985719_ca2375d243_o.gif" /></p>
<p>Making that play wasn&#39;t Kinnel&#39;s responsibility; he made it anyway after taking away the deep crossing route. Add that to the quote from his Hello post about Kinnel&#39;s coaches trusting him to call defensive audibles as a rising junior and we get an idea of his level of football smarts&mdash;he&#39;s very advanced in that regard for a player his age and it shows in his play.</p>
<p>Crawford and Kinnel were each Michigan&#39;s first offered prospects at their respective positions; their commitments add to an impressive trend in Brady Hoke&#39;s &#39;15 class:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Worth noting that <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Michigan&amp;src=hash">#Michigan</a> has gotten commits from their first offers at CB, WR, RB, S and K now. That&#39;s five of six positions committed</p>
<p> &mdash; Steve Lorenz (@TremendousUM) <a href="https://twitter.com/TremendousUM/statuses/371312575209680896">August 24, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>That is a remarkable stat considering four of those players&mdash;Crawford, RB Damien Harris, WR George Campbell, and K Andrew David&mdash;are considered among the very top prospects (if not <em>the </em>top) at their position, and only David didn&#39;t hold offers from multiple BCS powers when he committed.</p>
<p><em><strong>[Hit THE JUMP for updates on Da&#39;Shawn Hand&#39;s and Leonard Fournette&#39;s official visit plans, highlights of several Michigan commits from last weekend&#39;s high school action, and two reasons you&#39;re definitely going to want Hjalte Froholdt to end up at Michigan.]</strong></em></p>
<a name="more"></a><!--break--><!--break--><h3>
He Loves Me! He Loves Me Not.</h3>
<p>Those still holding out hope that somehow, some way, top-ranked 2014 RB <strong>Leonard Fournette</strong> would end up in the class got a glimmer of hope from <a href="http://www.nola.com/recruiting/index.ssf/2013/08/leonard_fournette_will_take_of.html" target="_blank">this NOLA.com article</a> published after Fournette&#39;s scrimmage last Thursday:</p>
<blockquote><p>St. Augustine running back&nbsp;<strong>Leonard Fournette will take official visits to LSU, Alabama and Michigan his father, Leonard Fournette Sr., said Thursday</strong> after watching St. Augustine scrimmage John Ehret.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But then 247&#39;s Kipp Adams spashed us with the proverbial bucket of cold water after posting this quote from the younger Fournette <a href="http://247sports.com/Article/Alabama-and-LSU-battle-for-five-star-RB-Leonard-Fournette--145476" target="_blank">after the very same scrimmage</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&ldquo;Alabama and LSU will get one, Florida and Miami will get one, <strong>and Michigan might get the last one</strong>,&rdquo; Fournette said. &ldquo;If not, then probably USC.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Frankly, I&#39;ll be surprised if Fournette makes it to campus, and downright flabbergasted if anything materializes from it.</p>
<h3>
Hands Across Americaaaaa</h3>
<p>We&#39;ve known for a while that five-star 2014 WDE <strong>Da&#39;Shawn Hand</strong> is taking his official visit to Michigan for the Notre Dame game; we finally know when he&#39;ll take trips to his other two finalists, Alabama and Florida, <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1540940" target="_blank">per Tim Sullivan</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>Oct. 5, he will see the Florida Gators take on Arkansas in Gainesville, and Nov. 9 will find him in Tuscaloosa, Ala. to see the Crimson Tide face LSU in one of the biggest games of the SEC&#39;s regular season.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hand announces his decision on November 14th, his 18th birthday, just five days after his official visit to Alabama. Tim posits that Florida, the only finalist Hand hasn&#39;t visited yet, is Michigan&#39;s biggest competition at this point; unless something major changes prior to November, it seems unlikely that he&#39;d reverse course and pick the Tide over the Wolverines with so little time to marinate on his trip to Tuscaloosa. Unless Florida blows him away, Michigan&#39;s prospects still look very good.</p>
<p>Speaking of Hand, the <em>Washington Post </em>began their &quot;First and 17&quot; series that&#39;ll cover his senior season and recruitment in depth&mdash;a <em>lot </em>of depth, if the first installment is any indication. Along with a video and interactive features on his college choices and inner circle, the <em>Post </em>has a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/dashawn-hand-a-vaunted-college-football-recruit-with-a-hefty-decision-on-his-mind/2013/08/23/5d1de9c4-0b5a-11e3-89fe-abb4a5067014_story.html" target="_blank">must-read article on Hand&#39;s upraising</a> by his parents, who were just 17 and 14 years old when Da&#39;Shawn was born; despite starting parenthood at such a young age, they&#39;ve made sure Da&#39;Shawn&mdash;and his academics&mdash;come first:</p>
<blockquote><p>Once, when Da&rsquo;Shawn was a freshman at Woodbridge, he brought home a C in math on a midterm report. Sharif immediately pulled him out of the football team&rsquo;s offseason weightlifting program.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Hey, Sharif, I understand what you&rsquo;re doing,&rdquo; Harris, Woodbridge&rsquo;s defensive coordinator at the time, told Da&rsquo;Shawn&rsquo;s father. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re making a lot of progress here.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;<strong>Coach,&rdquo; the elder Hand replied, &ldquo;I appreciate everything you&rsquo;re doing for Da&rsquo;Shawn. But I wouldn&rsquo;t be as upset if I thought he busted his behind for that C. He skated and got that C. I know my son. He shouldn&rsquo;t get no C in that class.</strong>&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Da&#39;Shawn raised that &#39;C&#39; to a &#39;B&#39;, now boasts a 3.71 GPA, and is looking to major in either civil engineering, architecture, or sports management, with an eye on potentially designing stadiums in the future. Well done, mom and dad.</p>
<p>I&#39;d be remiss in my duties as a Michigan Man (and troll) if I didn&#39;t post this quote, as well:</p>
<blockquote><p>The tougher cuts came after Hand had arrived at a top 10 list last winter and, finally, a top five by January. Virginia Tech was eliminated because it didn&rsquo;t offer his preferred majors. South Carolina was the victim of a &ldquo;gut feeling.&rdquo; <strong>Ohio State&rsquo;s downfall? &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to talk about it,&rdquo; he says.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8134/8969307411_d93a5fbc41_o.gif" /></p>
<p>Nope, still isn&#39;t getting old.</p>
<h3>
Yes, I&#39;ll Take The Maori Viking Death Machine</h3>
<p>2015 four-star DT<strong> Hjalte Froholdt</strong> is spending his junior year playing on a U-19 team in Copenhagen after his visa for studying in the US expired. He is also, according to this interview with OSU blog Men of the Scarlet and Gray, <a href="http://menofthescarletandgray.com/2013/08/23/motsag-chat-with-hjalte-froholdt/" target="_blank">a full-blooded killing machine</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Every Jason Statham movie I have ever seen has the same premise the birth of a &ldquo;Perfect Weapon&rdquo;. I think I have finally found that in real life with an interview I did with Hjalte Froholdt <strong>a young man from Denmark whose father is a Viking (Not the fake Minnesota kind) and Mother is a Maori (You know a warrior from Tonga).</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>YES, PLEASE. Since I&#39;m sure you&#39;re wondering, Froholdt does in fact have a brother, though he&#39;s disappointingly decided to play handball, a sport in which he&#39;s probably freakin&#39; <em>dominant.</em></p>
<p>Froholdt plans to come back to the States for visits to his top four schools this fall, <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Hjalte-Froholdt-Update-145899?utm_source=twitterfeed&amp;utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">per Steve Lorenz</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>Despite playing this season across continents over in Europe, former Warren (OH) Harding defensive tackle and top 2015 defensive target Hjalte Froholdt has a return visit to Michigan in mind.</p>
<p>&quot;I&#39;m probably going to visit in October,&quot; Froholdt said. This trip back to the States would also include Michigan State, Ohio State and Arkansas. &quot;I&#39;ve been emailing Coach Mattison quite a bit, updating him on my situation and letting him know how things have been going for me in Denmark. He can&#39;t answer until September 1st, but I&#39;m looking forward to a return visit.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Froholdt tentatively plans to make a decision in December or January, so these visits will be of paramount importance. Michigan should obviously hold the edge because <em><a href="http://mgoblog.com/category/tags/brady-hokes-pet-viking">our coach has a pet viking</a></em>, <em>fergodsakes</em>.</p>
<h3>
Commit Dominance, Offense Portion</h3>
<p class="rtecenter"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_8uJh-MqLsA" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>High school football season in under way&mdash;WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO&mdash;and a few of Michigan&#39;s commitments were in action last weekend. The headliner is 2015 commit <strong>Damien Harris</strong>, who returned the above kickoff 60 yards for a touchdown and added, oh, just 23 carries for 210 yards and five more TDs <a href="http://richmondregister.com/localsports/x1253329304/H-S-FOOTBALL-Harris-scores-6-TDs-Southern-gets-first-win-over-Rockcastle" target="_blank">in a 41-13 win</a>. More highlights are available <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKW7KyI697g" target="_blank">via Fox Sports Next</a>. This photo caption seems a little too kind to the defender:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Southern&#39;s Damien Harris <a href="https://twitter.com/Damien_D1Harris">@Damien_D1Harris</a> fights off a Rockcastle County defender Friday in Mt. Vernon <a href="http://t.co/KSlRfqyUS8">pic.twitter.com/KSlRfqyUS8</a></p>
<p> &mdash; Richmond Register (@RichmondRsports) <a href="https://twitter.com/RichmondRsports/statuses/371102380122583041">August 24, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>Quite the fight there.</p>
<p>2014 WR commit <strong>Freddy Canteen</strong>, playing in Eastern Christian Academy&#39;s first real football game in 11 months, posted some pretty impressive numbers himself:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Michigan&amp;src=hash">#Michigan</a> WR commit Freddy Canteen went for 5 catches, 118 yards and 2 TDs last night</p>
<p> &mdash; Steve Lorenz (@TremendousUM) <a href="https://twitter.com/TremendousUM/statuses/371686345556496384">August 25, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>That included this 69-yard catch-and-run:</p>
<p><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="650" scrolling="no" src="//instagram.com/p/dc30MWpu8S/embed/" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>He&#39;s pretty fast, you guys. Fellow Michigan commit and teammate <strong>Brandon Watson</strong> recorded an interception in a blowout win for ECA.</p>
<p><strong>Moe Ways</strong> had an impressive touchdown of his own in Detroit Country Day&#39;s scrimmage, via Tim Sullivan:</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/I4SBzF10FBo" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>Michigan&#39;s third 2014 wide receiver commit, on the other hand, did not have such a good weekend. <strong>Drake Harris</strong> is out four-to-six weeks after <a href="http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/5097319631194293029/grand-rapids-christian-coach-drake-harris-to-miss-four-to-six-weeks-with-hamstring-injury/" target="_blank">aggravating a hamstring injury</a> originally suffered earlier this month.</p>
<h3>
Commit Dominance, Defense/Special Teams Portion</h3>
<p>2014 commit <strong>Bryan Mone </strong>anchored a dominant defensive line <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865585120/High-school-football-Highland-steamrolls-Mountain-Crest-in-season-opener.html?pg=all" target="_blank">in Highland&#39;s 37-7 season-opening victory over Mountain Crest</a>, recording a sack in which he almost certainly committed a facemask penalty (that&#39;s Mone on the right, holding the damning evidence)...</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2894/9602755700_99faf6507d_o.jpg" style="height: 386px; width: 559px;" /></p>
<p>...but who cares, as it led to this fantastic photo that&#39;ll certainly get regular use around these parts:</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2807/9602755594_9f54835e01_o.jpg" /></p>
<p>Sorry, nearly-decapitated quarterback, but I don&#39;t think he&#39;s helping you up. (A barely-noticable-yet-perfect touch to this picture: Mone casually dropping the QB&#39;s helmet to the ground, which you can see just behind the QB&#39;s head.)</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Michigan&#39;s 2015 kicker commit showed off a big leg in Massillon&#39;s scrimmage against Willoughby South:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Massillon kicker Andrew David makes a 47 yard FG against Willoughby South. Woulda been good from 65. Michigan commit. 2015.</p>
<p> &mdash; Bill Greene (@BillBankGreene) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillBankGreene/statuses/370674103818416129">August 22, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>After the game, David was <a href="http://fridaynightohio.com/portal/news/219/Andrew_David_to_open_season_at_QB_for_Tigers/" target="_blank">named Massillon&#39;s starting quarterback</a>. Counting the seconds until Mark Dantonio realizes Michigan has a kicker commit who can pass and does everything in his power to sway his commitment so he can execute his next TOTALLY SURPRISING TRICK PLAY THAT INFURIATINGLY WORKS ANYWAY.</p>
<h3>
Etc.</h3>
<p>A 247 article on Glenville teammates <strong>Marshon Lattimore</strong> and <strong>Erick Smith</strong> doesn&#39;t have too much groundbreaking info&mdash;yes, both still like Ohio State a lot&mdash;though it does contain Smith&#39;s plans for official visits, and Michigan <a href="http://ohiostate.247sports.com/Article/Smith-Lattimore-Making-Plans-145713" target="_blank">will get one of them</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&ldquo;<strong>I know I&rsquo;m going to go to an O-State game, I don&rsquo;t know which one yet, a Michigan game and a Bama game. That&rsquo;s it right now,</strong>&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an official visit to Alabama, the game they play LSU (Nov. 9), and I&rsquo;ll take an official visit to O-State and an official visit to Michigan. I don&rsquo;t know of any more.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>2015 five-star MN WDE <strong>Jashon Cornell</strong> plans to cut his list down to around ten school soon, <a href="http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1540946&amp;PT=4&amp;PR=2" target="_blank">per Josh Helmholdt</a> ($). Michigan is almost certain to make it; he&#39;ll be visiting campus for UTL II. Iowa, Notre Dame, Minnesota, and Ohio State are other schools he plans to see this fall.</p>
<p>An eagle-eyed reader notes that <strong>Damien Harris</strong> <a href="http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/damien-harris-named-one-rivals-first-five-stars">will be named one of Rivals&#39;s initial five-star recruits</a> for the 2015 class.</p>
<p>Ohio State <a href="http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2013/08/25041/ohio-state-football-recruiting-eric-glover-williams-commits-to-buckeyes" target="_blank">landed their first 2015 commit</a>, and it&#39;s a big one: ATH <strong>Eric Glover-Williams</strong>, the top-ranked junior in Ohio.</p>
http://mgoblog.com/content/monday-recruitin-decapitates-shows-no-remorse#comments2014 recruiting2015 recruitingbryan moneda'shawn handdamien harrisdrake harriserick smithfreddy canteenhjalte froholdtjashon cornellleonard fournettemarshon lattimoremoe waysrecruiting roundupshaun crawfordtyree kinnelMon, 26 Aug 2013 19:41:53 +0000Ace80809 at http://mgoblog.comThursday Recruitin' Thinks It'll Go For A Walkhttp://mgoblog.com/content/thursday-recruitin-thinks-itll-go-walk
<h3>
Not Dead ... Yet</h3>
<p class="rtecenter"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dGFXGwHsD_A" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>The commitment of 2015 KY RB <strong>Damien Harris</strong> led many, including myself, to assume that Michigan&#39;s recruitment of 2014 LA RB <strong>Leonard Fournette</strong> &mdash; who&#39;d just no-showed a planned visit for the BBQ &mdash; was D-E-D dead. Per 247&#39;s Kipp Adams, however, it appears there&#39;s <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Leonard-Fournette-Five-official-visits-in-the-works-141520" target="_blank">still a faint pulse</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>According to Fournette&rsquo;s father, Leonard II, three of those four programs are slated to get coveted official visits from the No. 1 overall prospect in the Class of 2014 247Composite.</p>
<p>&ldquo;<strong>He plans to take officials to Alabama, USC, Michigan and Florida</strong>,&rdquo; Fournette II said, adding that Miami (Fla.) is likely to receive the fifth one.</p>
<p>LSU was not listed as a school slated to get an official, but Fournette II did list them as an additional top school.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Huzzah.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Michigan isn&#39;t mentioned once in the rest of the article, which features plenty of talk about LSU, Alabama, and USC. There is one other revelation: the Fournettes are apparently the Gradys of the South, as Leonard III&#39;s younger brother &mdash; a thus-far unoffered 2015 running back &mdash; is named... Lanard. That doesn&#39;t get confusing, I&#39;m sure.</p>
<p>As far as Fournette&#39;s recruitment goes, I&#39;ll believe Michigan has the slightest of chances when he&#39;s physically on campus, and even then the outlook is still probably grim. But, hey, Damien Harris...</p>
<h3>
PRETTY GOOD, GUYS</h3>
<p>...is pretty good, guys. GBW had Allen Trieu talk about Harris&#39;s potential impact and lo, is there ever <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1311613.html" target="_blank">potential for impact</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;He was at the Best of the Midwest Combine two winters ago,&quot; Trieu said, &quot;and he was already pretty physically put together, and ran a pretty good 40 there, and then when you find out that kid is only a freshman you&rsquo;re like, wow. <strong>I was able to go back and pull up the film from his freshman year and after the first three plays on the film, I basically turned it off and said I know this guy is a big time guy -- a national guy. And I don&rsquo;t get too many guys like that, to be honest.</strong></span></p>
<p> &quot;There&rsquo;s not a ton of guys that I turn on the film and right away I know that this guy is going to be right up there with the best in the country but, for him to be that way at an early age, I knew that there was something special there.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Trieu also mentions that Harris is a &quot;really good receiver&quot; in a camp setting, something that doesn&#39;t come through on film because why throw to the guy when you can hand the ball to him directly and probably score a touchdown, amirite?* Harris&#39;s high school coach echoed Trieu&#39;s praise and talked up his football IQ <a href="http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/story/_/id/9519135/michigan-wolverines-gain-another-top-recruit-2015" target="_blank">to TomVH</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>Madison Southern High coach Jon Clark said Michigan is getting a big, multidimensional back in the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Harris.</p>
<p>&quot;He&#39;s a lot bigger than people think. He&#39;s not a small speed back, either,&quot; Clark said. &quot;He&#39;s an excellent receiver out of the backfield, he is a smart player and he understands defensive schemes.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Harris confirmed to Trieu in another article that, while he&#39;s been leaning heavily towards Michigan for a long time, the commitment of <strong>George Campbell</strong> accelerated his process; a childhood fan of the Wolverines, Harris gave a great quote about <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1311150.html" target="_blank">committing to his dream school</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&quot;I don&#39;t even know what to expect. Growing up and loving a school and it being your dream and being able to achieve the dream and play at Michigan, it&#39;s mind blowing to think it&#39;s coming true. I&#39;m going to be thinking about how blessed I am to be playing, not only for a great school, but with great teammates and great coaches and a great fan base. I hope to live up to the expectations they have, but I&#39;m going to work hard and come in and play my game.&quot; </span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It&#39;s always great to see these kind of dreams fulfilled, and even better when they&#39;re the dreams of five-stars.</p>
<p>Speaking of insanely talented recent 2015 commits, a <a href="http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/sports/article.html/content/news/articles/bhsn/2013/7/29/east_lake_s_george_c.html" target="_blank">local news article</a> on Campbell contains this tidbit about his academic plans:</p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;Everyone, not just the coaches but also the players, they all took me in as one,&quot; Campbell said on Monday. &quot;Pretty much, it&#39;s like a big old family there. Not just that, but the academics. <strong>I plan on majoring in Sports Management, and they have a great program there.</strong> It&#39;s the best choice for me at the moment and for my future, too.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If this was the work of Professor Needs A Raise, he&#39;s now been upgraded to Professor Needs A Building Named After Him. You know, as soon as one of us remembers his real name &mdash; The Professor Needs A Building Named After Him, Er, Building doesn&#39;t exactly roll off the tongue.</p>
<p>How rare is a commitment from a kid like Campbell? DGDestroys put together this chart <a href="http://www.maizenbrew.com/2013/7/29/4567872/new-blue-george-campbell-jehu-chesson-amara-darboh-drake-harris" target="_blank">over at Maize n Brew</a> of the eventual destinations of Florida five-stars ranked among the top 15 players in their class (covering 2002-2013):</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2979301/TOP_15_FL_FIVE_STARS_large.png" style="height: 372px; width: 559px;" /></p>
<p>You&#39;ll note the complete lack of Big Ten schools, with Notre Dame representing the only program north of West Virginia to land a prospect matching the criteria. That prospect was Aaron Lynch, who transferred to USF after his freshman year. As long as Michigan holds onto Campbell &mdash; and he stays where he is in the rankings &mdash; then they&#39;re pulling off something that hasn&#39;t been done in the Rivals era.</p>
<p>Speaking of making recruiting history, The Wolverine&#39;s Michael Spath <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1529838" target="_blank">dug through the Rivals database</a>($) and found that the last team to pull in the #1 players in their class at running back and receiver was USC in 2007 with Joe McKnight and (<em>sigh</em>) Ronald Johnson. Michigan has a chance to do that with Campbell and Harris; it would be the first time the Wolverines pulled off the feat since 1998, predating the modern recruiting services, with Justin Fargas and David Terrell.</p>
<p><em><strong>[Hit THE JUMP for, oh hey, </strong></em><strong>another</strong><em><strong> 2015 prospect that looks like a stone-cold Michigan lock, more reactions from last weekend&#39;s BBQ, how OSU&#39;s latest commitment could affect the Wolverines, and more.]</strong></em></p>
<a name="more"></a><!--break--><!--break--><h3>
The Constant Visitor</h3>
<p>2015 Huber Heights (OH) Wayne CB <strong>Tyree Kinnel</strong> took <em>four</em> unofficial visits to Michigan this summer along with participating in their technique camp, and on Monday night the Wolverines came through with a coveted offer; per 247&#39;s Steve Lorenz, Kinnel <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Tyree-Kinnel-Update-141215" target="_blank">plans to spend ALL OF THE WEEKENDS in Ann Arbor</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>He was already planning on coming up for the Notre Dame game, but the coaches might be seeing a bit more of him this upcoming season on unofficials as well.</p>
<p><strong>&quot;I don&#39;t even know,&quot; Kinnel said, &quot;you might see me up there every weekend.&quot;</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Kinnel plans to decide after his junior season this fall; the insider consensus is that only an Ohio State offer could be enough to keep him from donning the Maize and Blue, and even then the Wolverines would have a very good chance of landing him. Kinnel is also showing serious interest in Arkansas &mdash; along with Kentucky, one of two SEC programs to offer him early &mdash; but he&#39;s not going around saying he&#39;ll be in Fayetteville every weekend.</p>
<h3>
BBQ Leftovers</h3>
<p>Sam Webb caught up with <strong>Malik McDowell</strong>&#39;s mom, who&#39;s accompanied her son on multiple visits to Michigan, including the BBQ; her review of the campus experience is extremely positive and includes an indirect indictment of how other (unnamed) schools <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1311843.html" target="_blank">conduct their visits</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;Everyone is so nice and it&rsquo;s like they remember your name.&nbsp; They make you feel right at home.&nbsp; They make you feel comfortable. It&rsquo;s no pressure. <strong>You know how sometimes you can go somewhere and people can try to pressure you, or force you, or push you?&nbsp; <em>&lsquo;You need to make a decision.&rsquo;</em> There&rsquo;s no pressure, so I don&rsquo;t have that feeling of <em>&lsquo;oh my God, I don&rsquo;t want to go up there&rsquo;</em> because I know they&rsquo;re not going to be badgering me, or just on us.</strong> They let us relax and they come over and talk to you, but they just kind of talk to you in general&hellip; just like <em>&lsquo;how are you doing? How&rsquo;s your family doing?&rsquo;</em> (We) talk about their family. I have met all their families.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s kind of like a normal get-together. You don&rsquo;t feel like you&rsquo;re really pressured.&rdquo; </span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>McDowell&#39;s father, who was also at the BBQ, mentioned his desire to see Malik at Michigan earlier in the week. The younger McDowell is still expected to take official visits &mdash; his mom mentions Alabama, Florida, and a trip out to California (presumably to USC) as potential officials. It&#39;s still very difficult to see any other school overtaking Michigan.</p>
<p>2015 UT LB <strong>Osa Masina</strong> hit up the BBQ as part of a Midwest swing that also included unofficial visits to Notre Dame and Wisconsin; he wouldn&#39;t name any favorites after the trips, but told Scout&#39;s Greg Biggins that Michigan <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1311387.html" target="_blank">left a very positive impression</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&rdquo;The trip was great,&rdquo; Masina said. &ldquo;I loved all the coaches and I got to meet a lot of the upcoming recruiting class and talked with them a lot. <strong>Their stadium was incredible and it would be something else to get a sack in there and hear the crowd go crazy. </strong></span></p>
<p>...</p>
<p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;I talked a lot with coach Hoke, Ferigno and Manning and they were all great with me. <strong>The players on the team and the incoming recruits all speak so highly of Michigan and I really loved it there. I don&rsquo;t have any favorites right now but Michigan definitely left a great impression on me.</strong>&quot; </span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span class="storybody">I don&#39;t normally do this, but I&#39;d like to draw your attention to <a href="https://twitter.com/OS_tertag" target="_blank">Masina&#39;s Twitter page</a>, and namely his handle &mdash; yes, the Utah native goes by &quot;OS_tertag&quot; on Twitter, and this NBA junkie is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Ostertag" target="_blank">duly impressed</a>.</span></p>
<p>2015 PA OT <strong>Sterling Jenkins</strong> revealed a recruiting angle I didn&#39;t know existed, <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1311335.html" target="_blank">per GBW</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;It was interesting because they were talking about -- <strong>one of the big points that they brought up was the networking</strong>,&rdquo; Jenkins said. &ldquo;<strong>That the former CEO of Dominoes, that he is the athletic director -- and just in general, all the people that could help you further in your life past football.</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;I thought that was pretty interesting. They said they challenge you on the field and off the field, and I think that&rsquo;s something that I&rsquo;m looking for. If you can do it in both ways, that&rsquo;s something that&rsquo;s really special.&rdquo;</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>If Dave Brandon&#39;s business background is a critical component to Michigan&#39;s recruiting success, you&#39;ll find some very conflicted bloggers right around, oh, here.</p>
<p>2016 MD LB <strong>De&#39;le Harding</strong>, teammate of 2014 commits Freddy Canteen and Brandon Watson, told Lorenz flat-out that Michigan is his top school after taking in the BBQ &mdash; so long as they <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Dele-Harding-BBQ-Reaction-141352" target="_blank">come through with an offer</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;I&#39;d say they would be my top school,&quot; he said, obviously being contingent on an offer. &quot;I had a lot of questions answered at the BBQ and the possibility of playing with Brandon and Freddy at the next level is something I&#39;d strongly consider doing. I still have a lot of schools I&#39;d like to see and hear from, however.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Considering Harding already boasts offers from USC and Tennessee, it&#39;d be surprising if Michigan didn&#39;t extend one sooner or later.</p>
<p>Another 2016 prospect to keep an eye on is Eastpointe (MI) South Lake RB <strong>Martell Pettaway</strong>, whose father told GBW&#39;s Kyle Bogenschutz that &quot;everything went well&quot; <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1311590.html" target="_blank">at the BBQ</a> ($).</p>
<h3>
Glenville Impossibility: Actually Possible, Maybe?</h3>
<p>Ohio State landed a commitment from PA ATH <strong>Malik Hooker</strong> this week, and while Michigan was recruiting Hooker at receiver the Buckeyes are taking him as a safety. This is an important detail in light of OSU&#39;s current scholarship situation and remaining needs. Land-Grant Holy Land <a href="http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2013/7/29/4569688/malik-hooker-commits-to-ohio-state" target="_blank">lists the top targets</a> left on the board:</p>
<blockquote><p>Hooker&#39;s commitment further leaves many recruitniks checking their Google Docs because of the present NCAA sanctions induced numbers crunch. There was some sentiment that <b>Raekwon McMillan</b>, <b>Curtis Samuel</b>, <b>Marshon Lattimore</b>, <b>Damian Prince</b>/<b>Chad Mavety</b>, and then either <b>Erick Smith</b>, <b>Mike Gesicki</b>, or a newer offeree like <b>Braxton Berrios</b> would finish out the rest of what&#39;s likely to be a class capped around 20 or 21 total. Perhaps this suggests future attrition could still be in the cards, or that the Buckeyes&#39; staff is willing to throw caution to the wind to secure the best talent on their board to position themselves for long term, sustained success, even in light of their forced recruiting limitations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bucknuts&#39;s Bill Kurelic flat-out says that four-star Glenville safety <strong>Erick Smith</strong>&#39;s expected spot in the class is <a href="http://ohiostate.247sports.com/Article/Bill-Kurelic-Looks-At-Impact-Of-Malik-Hooker-OSU-Commitment-141220" target="_blank">no longer a sure thing by any means</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>And finally, Hooker&#39;s commitment certainly puts Erick Smith&#39;s spot in the class in some question. <strong>Hooker is definitely headed to Ohio State as a safety. Getting Smith in still is not impossible, but the numbers squeeze becomes even tighter</strong>.</p>
<p>With Hooker in I could see Smith still getting in if the OSU staff decides not to add another receiver type prospect other than Curtis Samuel, or if they decide to take just one more offensive lineman.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Smith and his five-star athlete teammate, <strong>Marshon Lattimore</strong>, have been very quiet in the wake of their visit for the BBQ, but Steve Wiltfong suggests that Michigan made a move in 247&#39;s <a href="http://247sports.com/Article/Big-Ten-Football-Recruiting-Roundup-Buckeyes-Wolverines-Illini-141297" target="_blank">free Big Ten roundup</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Ohio State hosted five-star cornerback <a href="http://247sports.com/Player/Marshon-Lattimore-23253">Marshon Lattimore</a> and four-star safety <a href="http://247sports.com/Player/Erick-Smith-23564">Erick Smith</a> for Friday Night Lights and remain the favorite to land the Cleveland (Ohio) Glenville duo, however it looks like Michigan made a strong case for both at the Barbecue at the Big House on Sunday.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Smith and Lattimore have talked in the past about being a package deal. I&#39;m not sayin&#39;. I&#39;m just sayin&#39;.</p>
<h3>
Etc.</h3>
<p>2015 four-star DT <strong>Hjalte Froholdt</strong> must go back to Denmark for a year after his visa expired &mdash; he&#39;d played last season at Warren (OH) Harding and earned offers this summer from Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, with those three schools thought to be in serious contention for his services. He&#39;ll still be playing football this year, just not against high school kids, <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/colleges/michigan/post?id=13641" target="_blank">per ESPN&#39;s Jared Shanker</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>Froholdt, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound lineman, spent his sophomore season at Warren (Ohio) G. Harding, but he is now back in his native Denmark after his visa expired this summer. <strong>He will move to Copenhagen in the fall and play football for the S&oslash;ller&oslash;d Gold Diggers, a senior league team with players ranging from ages 20-40. </strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Froholdt plans to return to the States for his senior season. His junior film, at the very least, should be quite interesting. Also, either &quot;Gold Digger&quot; has a very different meaning in Denmark or I&#39;m very curious to see S&oslash;ller&oslash;d&#39;s mascot. I&#39;ve heard Kevin Federline needs work.</p>
<p>In the wake of Damien Harris&#39;s commitment, 2015 Cass Tech RB <strong>Mike Weber</strong> named Tennessee as his leader, <a href="http://tennessee.scout.com/2/1311508.html" target="_blank">per Scout&#39;s Patrick MacCoon</a> ($). If Michigan can&#39;t make up ground on Weber, they may turn their attention more fully to four-star FL RB <strong>Jacques Patrick</strong>, who&#39;s been in contact with Harris and Campbell on Twitter and seems to have legitimate interest in Michigan.</p>
<p>MSU reportedly hired the director of Sound Mind Sound Body and the Maximum Exposure 7-on-7 team, Curtis Blackwell, <a href="http://www.theonlycolors.com/2013/8/1/4578860/report-msu-hires-curtis-blackwell-recruiting-coordinator" target="_blank">to be their recruiting coordinator</a>. I&#39;m not sure where this leaves SMSB, but it certainly gives State a personnel guy with extensive knowledge of prospects and connections with coaches throughout the state of Michigan &mdash; from my viewpoint, he&#39;s a very good hire.</p>
<p>ESPN updated their <a href="http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/playerrankings/_/view/rn300/sort/rank/class/2014" target="_blank">2014 top 300</a> (no major changes for Michigan commits) and <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/classrankings" target="_blank">team rankings</a>, with Michigan falling two spots to #6, though three of the five teams they&#39;re behind have 23 commits or more.</p>
<p>Iowa is in serious danger of losing in-state four-star OL commit Ross Pierschbacher to Alabama or Stanford, <a href="http://alabama.247sports.com/Article/Top-100-OL-Ross-Pierschbacher-nearing-a-decision-141565" target="_blank">per 247&#39;s Trevor Hewett</a> ($). Pierschbacher has remained a &quot;soft&quot; commit to the Hawkeyes while visiting Tuscaloosa and Palo Alto, and now says he want to &quot;make a decision pretty soon,&quot; which doesn&#39;t bode well for the school to which he&#39;s currently committed.</p>
<p><a href="http://oregon.247sports.com/Article/BREAKING-Oregon-4-star-commit-QUITS-football-141191" target="_blank">This takes some serious guts</a>. Kudos to Jordan Hoeim for coming to terms with the fact that he doesn&#39;t enjoy playing football and opening up his spot at Oregon for someone who does; I wish him the best of luck in whatever he decides to do, and I hope Duck fans do the same.</p>
<p>---------------<br />
<em>*Somewhere in the Great Unknown, Bo Schembechler nods vehemently.</em></p>
http://mgoblog.com/content/thursday-recruitin-thinks-itll-go-walk#comments2014 recruiting2015 recruitingdamien harrisde'le hardingerick smithgeorge campbellhjalte froholdtleonard fournettemalik mcdowellmartell pettawaymike weberosa masinarecruiting rounduptyree kinnelThu, 01 Aug 2013 19:00:21 +0000Ace80241 at http://mgoblog.comThursday Recruitin', Still Explodinghttp://mgoblog.com/content/thursday-recruitin-still-exploding
<h3>HANDPOCALYPSE YESTERDAY</h3>
<p><img title="Explosion[1]" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="Explosion[1]" src="http://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/Thursday-Recruiting_C69F/Explosion1.jpg" width="404" height="324" /></p>
<p>Yeah all that stuff about VA DE <strong>Da'Shawn Hand</strong> changing his stuff all around with the exception of Michigan <a href="http://mgoblog.com/content/handpocalypse-now">was posted yesterday because EXPLOSIONS</a>. One follow-up from the M Block <a href="http://www.themblock.com/2013/06/dashawn-hand-update.html">catching up with Hand's coach</a>: </p>
<blockquote><p><strong>So really, all it came down to was that Virginia Tech didn't have the degree he was looking for?</strong>&#160; </p>
<p>&quot;Yeah.&#160; This was the thing.&#160; With Michigan, I'm telling you, one of those coaches owes that guy lunch man.&#160; I mean, he blew us all away.&#160; He had us raising our hands, asking questions and everything, it was crazy.&#160; I think he was the dean or something? I don't want to misquote it, I'm not exactly sure, but this guy was amazing.&#160; He just made it really interesting, Da'shawn was already kind of interested in that program, but after talking to him he was like, 'Wow, that's exactly what I want to do.' &quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hand's never been to Florida, FWIW, so they have to be regarded as the #3 team right now. They're mostly in it because they hired South Carolina's DL coach and Hand likes him. As much as Professor Needs A Raise? Probably not.</p>
<p>Usually the school that is the constant in an otherwise shifting picture is in good shape. If Hand was pulling the trigger today it would be M, with those officials the main barrier remaining.</p>
<h3>Speight spins sfootballs</h3>
<p>New highlights of Michigan's QB commit:</p>
<p><iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hJiEDRxAvII" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<h3>The linebacker picture</h3>
<p>Michigan has two and is definitely looking for a third. Chase Winovich is a SAM, Ferns likely a MLB, so they're probably looking for a weakside guy, right? Well… Furbush complicates things since he is definitely a SAM, but in general it looks like it. Michigan is chasing CA LB <strong>Dwight Williams—</strong>who is <a href="https://twitter.com/DW7_/status/344475732258484224">planning to come in for the Notre Dame game</a>—FL LB <strong>Darrion Owens</strong>, and has <a href="https://twitter.com/SamWebb77/status/344846402221916161">just offered</a> MO LB <strong>Jimmie Swain</strong>. Swain is an inside type, as is Williams. Owens just moved down from safety so he could be a fit at WLB despite playing what looks like SAM in his team's spring game—at 6'4&quot;, 215 he could also grow into a college-level SAM.</p>
<p>Swain is a consensus three star with some decent offers (Nebraska, K-State, TCU, MSU, Tennessee and the terrifying recruiting machine that is Northwestern). He was on the <a href="http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1514715">verge of releasing a top five</a>($) a couple days ago, but his plans may be changing with an&#160; influx of offers from Michigan, Oregon, and a couple others. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Owens just picked up a Georgia offer at their camp, causing some Crystal Ball predictions to roll in for the Dawgs. FWIW, Michigan <a href="http://georgia.247sports.com/Article/Linebacker-Darrion-Owens-earned-a-Georgia-offer-Saturday-134505">may be the main challenger</a> right now: </p>
<blockquote><p>The Georgia offer was &quot;a big one&quot; according to the Oakleaf coaching staff. Owens, who camped at Auburn Sunday, is believed to be a Georgia lean over Michigan and others.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A <a href="http://auburn.247sports.com/Article/Auburn-Camp-Impressions-134526">report from Auburn's camp</a>($) also suggested M and Georgia are having a rare recruiting battle over the kid. FWIW, I ended up watching his <a href="http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1368104/darrion-owens">hudl video</a> and he's the guy I want. He brings a load when he tackles and cuts through traffic well. Michigan wants Owens to take his time, as he hasn't been to campus yet.</p>
<p>Commissioner Peppers is <a href="https://twitter.com/JabrillPeppers/status/344492207564271617">getting in with Williams</a>, who has his <a href="https://twitter.com/DW7_/status/331966755599699968">own iphone app</a>. He's got a <a href="https://twitter.com/DW7_/status/339577443880951808">top 16</a> that seems like a top-two-and-friends consisting of Florida (official also scheduled) and Michigan. Three other schools who grab officials will likely comprise a top five going into fall. Onetime favorite USC never offered and Williams said he <a href="http://www.insidesocal.com/usc/2013/06/01/serra-lb-dwight-williams-not-happy-with-usc/">was no longer considering them</a>, so if he stays local it will be with UCLA. Williams is a teammate of Adoree' Jackson, FWIW.</p>
<h3>Nevermind all that</h3>
<p>IL OL <strong>Jamarco Jones</strong> was scheduled to roll through M, MSU, and OSU this weekend; instead he will stay home and play MarioKart: </p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Won't be making any of my planned visits</p>
<p>— Jamarco Jones (@jjones_73) <a href="https://twitter.com/jjones_73/status/345194122686115840">June 13, 2013</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>With Ohio State the presumed, if narrow leader that's not good. Visits shake up the status quo more than MarioKart. Mitigating that a bit: Jones apparently posted some madface emoticons—they just show up as boxes for me—afterwards, indicating he's not happy with that development. </p>
<h3>Difficulty level: nightmare</h3>
<p>Well, it's not like anyone's banking on M picking up OH CB <strong>Marshon Lattimore</strong>, a Glenville kid reputed enamored with Ohio State, but here's <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/colleges/michigan/post/_/id/12639/lattimore-goes-from-jv-to-vip">a Wolverine Nation profile</a> anyway. Michigan is <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1513366&amp;utm_source=feedly">scheduled for an official visit</a> along with Alabama, USC, Tennessee(?!), and OSU. That does not constitute a top five according to Lattimore despite obviously being a top five.</p>
<h3>Twitter is important and meaningful</h3>
<p>Another blaze of Michigan business on 2015 FL WR <strong>George Campbell's</strong> twitter account, with Campbell exhorting Michigan fans to show fellow 2015 Floridian <strong>Jacques Patrick </strong><a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeCampbell0/status/344988217134682113">the proverbial love</a> (Patrick is a Derrick-Green-like RB, FWIW) and <a href="https://twitter.com/GeorgeCampbell0/status/344992201123704833">follow Wilton Speight</a>. Along the way he <a href="https://twitter.com/TomVH/status/344988565958193152">retweeted TomVH's manual retweet of his original tweet</a>. WE HAVE TO GO DEEPER.</p>
<p>Then Mason Cole's brother started blowing him up with exhortations to head to AA. Twitter, being the iron-clad arbiter of all things, means Campbell will end up in Ann Arbor. Yea, it is in stone.</p>
<h3>Moment of zen</h3>
<p>2015 OH/Denmark TE/DE <strong>Hjalte Froholdt</strong> is interviewed by ESPN and compares the schools that he's been to <a href="http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/colleges/osu/post?id=11651">in his whirlwind summer</a>: </p>
<blockquote><p><strong>“All of them stuck out</strong>,” Froholdt said. “It’s amazing how big they are. It’s all about family at each school. They’re all very nice people.</p>
<p>“They all have a great stadium, a great locker room and great facilities. There’s not a facility where you ask if they have something and they say, ‘No, I’m sorry we don’t.’ Everyone has four practice fields; it’s hard to compare. I’m happy for everything that has happened.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This has been your moment of zen.</p>
<h3>Etc.</h3>
<p>Michigan is <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1514524">trying to get involved</a>($) with TN WR <strong>Josh Malone</strong>, a consensus top 100 guy. He's going to narrow to five and take officials; bet this is the only time we hear about him before a Happy Trails is issued.</p>
<p>The M Block confirms that OSU is leading with NJ RB <strong>Jonathan Hilliman</strong>; Hilliman <a href="http://www.themblock.com/2013/06/upcoming-visitor-list.html">will be at the BBQ</a>.</p>
<p>Here's 2015 MI WR <strong>Brian Cole </strong><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=u5iVXerQfrE">running routes and such</a> at the NFTC. Cole is probably the top kid in the state next year, but since he doesn't have giant Mickey Mouse hands like Ian Bunting I cannot recommend actually watching the video.</p>
<p>Terrifying recruiting machine Northwestern <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1298695.html">has interest</a> in 2015 Michigan legacy<strong> Tyriq Thompson</strong>. Everyone <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=883&amp;CID=1514919">who is going to be at camp.</a> It's a long, long list. M is after 2015 UT LB Osa Masina, who <a href="http://recruiting.scout.com/2/1299187.html">will visit this summer</a>($), possibly for camp. His brother just signed with Utah, FWIW.</p>
<p>Have we mentioned that <strong>Chase Winovich </strong><a href="http://recruiting.scout.com/2/1299003.html">got a fourth star from Scout</a>? Well, he did. <strong>Moe Ways</strong> remains Sleeper Of The Year By Default.</p>
<a name="more"></a>http://mgoblog.com/content/thursday-recruitin-still-exploding#commentsda'shawn handdarrion owensdwight williamsgeorge campbellhjalte froholdtjamarco jonesjimmie swainmarshon lattimorerecruiting roundupwilton speightThu, 13 Jun 2013 15:42:39 +0000Brian79238 at http://mgoblog.comMonday Recruitin' Doesn't Film In Shedhttp://mgoblog.com/content/monday-recruitin-doesnt-film-shed
<h3>
*BREAKING* 6&#39;6&quot;, 230-Pound Quarterback<em> </em>Has Strong Arm After All</h3>
<script src="http://player.espn.com/player.js?&amp;playerBrandingId=4ef8000cbaf34c1687a7d9a26fe0e89e&amp;pcode=1kNG061cgaoolOncv54OAO1ceO-I&amp;width=576&amp;height=324&amp;externalId=espn:9288627&amp;thruParam_espn-ui[autoPlay]=false&amp;thruParam_espn-ui[playRelatedExternally]=true"></script><p>Michigan quarterback commit <strong>Wilton Speight </strong>flew across the country to compete in the Elite 11 San Francisco regional camp last weekend. Despite a field featuring several of the top prospects in the country,&mdash;including #1 pro-style QB Keller Chryst and Oregon commit Morgan Mahalak&mdash;nobody at the camp earned an invite to the Elite 11 finals; Speight showed off a strong arm and high ceiling but <a href="https://vine.co/v/bEUxn5V6Jt7" target="_blank">struggled a bit with his mechanics</a>, as you can see in the above video (he&#39;s the one with the Michigan shorts, natch). The Elite 11&#39;s resident coach, former NFL QB Trent Dilfer, gave his <a href="http://247sports.com/Article/Trent-Dilfer-comments-on-California-Elite-11-top-prospects-131304" target="_blank">thoughts on Speight to 247&#39;s Barton Simmons</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>One of the longest commutes to compete at the event came from Richmond, Va. native Wilton Speight. The Michigan commit was also one of the biggest prospects in attendance with regard to his physical stature and Dilfer noted that his size is both his strength and his weakness at this point.</p>
<p><b>Dilfer on Speight:</b> &ldquo;He had a nice day. He&rsquo;s obviously a very physical kid, tall, strong. I think he&rsquo;s got to get more organized. Everything&rsquo;s just got to get more organized for him to be consistent. That&rsquo;s typical for a lot of linear guys. There&rsquo;s a lot of moving parts.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Scout&#39;s crew of experts all had Speight outside the top five performers, but national analyst Greg Biggins&mdash;as well as Speight himself&mdash;still had a <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1292683.html" target="_blank">largely positive review of his play</a> ($) [emphasis mine]:</p>
<blockquote><p>The biggest quarterback in the camp was easily Richmond (Va.) Collegiate School&rsquo;s Wilton Speight. The Michigan commit looks all of 6-6, 230 pounds and he had a solid camp. <strong>He was able to make all the throws showing off a strong arm and actually looked better than expected when he had to throw on the run. </strong></p>
<p>Speight is a pure drop back quarterback who throws a tight ball and can get the ball down the field. <strong>He threw some of the best deep balls in the camp and makes it look easy and effortless. </strong></p>
<p>&ldquo;<strong>I was happy with my performance, I wasn&rsquo;t overly thrilled with all my throws but overall, I thought I had a good day</strong>,&rdquo; Speight said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s always a couple of throws you want back but the beauty of this is there&rsquo;s still 13 spots left for the final Elite 11. No one got the invite today so you just have to stay patient and let the process play itself out.&rdquo;</p>
</blockquote>
<p><span class="storybody">As Speight said above, he&#39;ll still have a chance to earn his way into the finals later this spring; he won&#39;t be the only one from the </span>SF regional with something to prove, as five-star Chryst reportedly (and by his own admission) struggled mightily.</p>
<p><em><strong>[Hit THE JUMP for the latest visit plans of five-star DT Andrew Brown, Michigan commits in the updated Rivals100 and Top247, and more.]</strong></em></p>
<a name="more"></a><!--break--><!--break--><h3>
Come On Down, Andrew Brown</h3>
<p>Da&#39;Shawn Hand isn&#39;t the only elite Virginian defensive lineman hotly pursued by Michigan in the 2014 class; five-star DT <strong>Andrew Brown</strong> has mentioned the Wolverines as a program he wants to look into, and according to Rivals&#39; Brad Franklin <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1507334" target="_blank">he&#39;ll do just that this summer</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>After saying last month at the Rivals Camp Series stop in Richmond that he was started to grow somewhat tired by the process, <strong>Brown explained that rather than make a decision within the next month or so, he&#39;ll instead take two trips north and three south. After that point, he says he feels he&#39;ll have all the information he needs to settle on his five official visit sites.</strong></p>
<p> So which five schools will be hosting the nation&#39;s top defensive tackle?</p>
<p> &quot;This is what I want to do right here,&quot; Brown explained. &quot;<strong>Over the summer, I&#39;m going to go up north and then I&#39;m going to go down south to see Ohio State and Michigan and then Florida, Florida State, and Alabama.</strong> Then I can pretty much determine my top five. The top five is going to pretty much determine the official visits that I want to take.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Along with the five schools listed above, Brown has serious interest in several ACC schools: Virginia (his presumed favorite), Virginia Tech, North Carolina, and Clemson. Brown also talked about pushing his decision back to late September or early October&mdash;giving him a chance to take those official visits&mdash;and a couple schools that tried to get in on his recruitment a little too late:</p>
<blockquote><p>He also added that while he hasn&#39;t seen FSU lately, coaches from Wisconsin and Michigan State stopped by. He doesn&#39;t take any of that too seriously, though. As much as he appreciates those visits, it&#39;s clear they won&#39;t have a dramatic impact on him.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I couldn&#39;t resist.</p>
<h3>
Defensive Back Recruiting, Non-Peppers Edition</h3>
<p>Four-star IL CB <strong>Parrker Westphal</strong> is expected to end up at Michigan sooner or later; as well all know, though, the recruiting process features more than its fair share of twists and turns. The <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1292872.html" target="_blank">entry of Stanford into Wesphal&#39;s recruitment</a> is of some concern considering his desire to go to a strong academic school (Northwestern and Vanderbilt are both under serious consideration, as well), though their strict visit/offer policy could be a non-starter, as could Westphal&#39;s previously-stated desire to enroll early:</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">Stanford has visited several times, per Westphal&rsquo;s account, but a catch-22 looms. </span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;I honestly have no clue,&rdquo; he said of the latest on Stanford&rsquo;s recruitment. &ldquo;They visited three times within two weeks, but then a few questions popped up. <strong>They don&rsquo;t accept early grads, but it wasn&rsquo;t set in stone [that I graduate early]. Then they want me to come out to camp and get an offer. So far, I have no clue. </strong>So they say they&rsquo;re interested, but then ask the tough questions.&rdquo; </span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">Thus, we&rsquo;ve reached the paradox. <strong>Per Westphal, Stanford doesn&rsquo;t want to offer until they see him on campus, in part to confirm his interest and in part to ensure he is a good fit on the gridiron. Yet Westphal doesn&rsquo;t want to visit a school that has yet to offer, and further, is upset by Stanford&rsquo;s extra scrutiny given that 20 other schools have proffered. </strong></span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span class="storybody">It sounds like there&#39;s a lot to work out before Stanford becomes a serious contender; if they offered, however, there could be real mutual interest&mdash;Michigan and Stanford are the two schools that best fit Westphal&#39;s desired combination of strong academics and competitive football.</span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">Four-star DC CB <strong>Jalen Tabor</strong> released his final eight schools on Twitter over the weekend:</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Final 8 UMD, Vandy , Florida , Alabama , UT , FSU , Michigan , Ohio State ! <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Blessed">#Blessed</a> to have this opportunity ! I Thank God For everything</p>
<p> &mdash; #⃣1⃣ (@HesSuchATEEZ) <a href="https://twitter.com/HesSuchATEEZ/status/335849083413598212">May 18, 2013</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p><p>247&#39;s experts are split between predicting Florida and Florida State for Tabor, who&#39;s also unofficially visited Alabama, Maryland, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt. Michigan is fighting an uphill battle, especially with Tabor&#39;s eyes looking South, <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1292722.html" target="_blank">per Scout&#39;s Brian Dohn</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">His list has four SEC schools, one ACC school and three Big Ten schools (Maryland moves to the Big Ten in 2014). </span></p>
<p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;Conference does matter a little bit,&rdquo; he told Klein. &ldquo;I want to play in the SEC. If you look at the NFL draft the last five first-round cornerbacks were all SEC players. It makes a difference, but it isn&rsquo;t going to make the decision.&rdquo; </span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>If the Wolverines can land Jabrill Peppers and Westphal, it&#39;s doubtful they&#39;d have the need (or space) for another cornerback; I&#39;d be pretty surprised to see Tabor end up in the class.</p>
<h3>
Rankings Updates</h3>
<p>Both 247 and Rivals revised their top lists in the last 24 hours, and of course those lists contain several Michigan commits and targets. In Rivals&#39; case, they&#39;ve only released the <a href="http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/rankings/rank-3235" target="_blank">new Rivals100</a>, which contains one Wolverine pledge: <strong>Drake Harris</strong>, who moved down one spot from #56 to #57. <strong>Da&#39;Shawn Hand</strong> and <strong>Jabrill Peppers</strong> maintained their 1-2 standing on Rivals, while <strong>Malik McDowell</strong> held firm at #23.</p>
<p>Here&#39;s the full breakdown on commit movement in the new Top247:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Drake Harris stayed at #37</li>
<li>
Bryan Mone moved up two spots to #49</li>
<li>
Mason Cole moved down one spot to #106</li>
<li>
Michael Ferns moved down four spots to #179</li>
<li>
Lawrence Marshall moved down ten spots to #217</li>
<li>
Juwann Bushell-Beatty moved down seven spots to #222</li>
</ul>
<p>We&#39;re still at the stage when elite recruits are getting discovered at camps and recruiting services are reconciling a prospect&#39;s offer sheet with their rankings (see: Joe Mixon moving up 40 spots), so it&#39;s no surprise to see the commits towards the lower end of the list move down a few spots. 247 likes Mone more than any other service right now, but I think that might change as we move forward; his film is really impressive for a guy his size.</p>
<h3>
Happy Trails</h3>
<p>...to four-star TN OL <strong>Alex Bars</strong>, younger brother of Wolverine OL Blake Bars, who <a href="https://twitter.com/Alex_Bars70/status/335464447911010304" target="_blank">chose Notre Dame</a> over Michigan and Tennessee (among others) last weekend. Bars was Michigan&#39;s top target to fill the third (and likely final) offensive line spot in the 2014 class, or at least the one considered most likely to commit. The top remaining targets with offers are IL OL <strong>Jamarco Jones</strong> and MO OL <strong>Roderick Johnson</strong>, though Jones is considered an Ohio State lean and Johnson appears to be headed South. We&#39;ll see if Michigan starts putting out more O-line offers or if they&#39;re comfortable waiting on elite prospects and potentially standing pat at two linemen.</p>
<h3>
Etc.</h3>
<p><strong>Jabrill Peppers</strong>&#39; new music video is <em>legit</em>:</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tnMCZiS9MTI" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Keys to rap video legitimacy: lyrical talent, not filming in a shed.</p>
<p>2015 grayshirt offer and Danish exchange student <strong>Hjalte Froholdt</strong> was Michigan&#39;s lone campus visitor last weekend; <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Class-of-2015-offer-Hjlate-Froholdt-talks-Michigan-visit--131358" target="_blank">per 247&#39;s Clint Brewster</a>($), Froholdt &quot;really like[s]&quot; the Michigan staff and wants to visit all the schools that have offered him, which now includes Ohio State and Michigan State, among others.</p>
<p><a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1292828.html" target="_blank">Per Sam Webb</a>($), 2015 TX RB <strong>Sotonye &quot;So So&quot; Jamabo</strong> is learning plenty about Michigan from his personal trainer, former Wolverine running back David Underwood.</p>
<p>The Champaign Room <a href="http://www.thechampaignroom.com/2013/5/17/4340880/who-is-the-northwestern-bagman" target="_blank">asks the important question</a> about Northwestern&#39;s recruiting tear. &quot;The Devils Den&quot; would <a href="http://duke.scout.com/2/1292986.html" target="_blank">keep tabs on such things</a>.</p>
http://mgoblog.com/content/monday-recruitin-doesnt-film-shed#comments2014 recruitingandrew browndrake harrishjalte froholdtjalen taborparrker westphalrecruiting roundupsoso jamabowilton speightMon, 20 May 2013 18:26:58 +0000Ace78763 at http://mgoblog.comMonday Recruitin' Knew It All Alonghttp://mgoblog.com/content/monday-recruitin-knew-it-all-along
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7297/8735917648_a05a365ee6_z.jpg" style="height: 441px; width: 500px;" /></p>
<h3>
Lawrence Marshall, Troll of the Year Candidate</h3>
<p>Michigan&#39;s <a href="http://mgoblog.com/content/hello-lawrence-marshall">latest commit</a>, Southfield DE <strong>Lawrence Marshall</strong>, was presumably headed to East Lansing before pledging to Michigan last weekend, according to virtually everyone who followed his recruitment. Another example of Brady Hoke&#39;s remarkable ability to change recruits&#39; minds during their visits, right? Oh, no, it&#39;s much better than that, <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1290984.html" target="_blank">per Sam Webb</a> ($) [emphasis mine]:</p>
<blockquote><p><span class="storybody">&ldquo;<strong>I was thinking about committing (to Michigan) for like a month now, so I knew where I was about to go for a whole month</strong>,&rdquo; Marshall said sheepishly.&nbsp; &ldquo;I just didn&rsquo;t want nobody to know where I wanted to go.&nbsp; I went up (to Ann Arbor today for a visit) and it was the perfect timing to commit.&nbsp; I think I caught them by surprise. I don&rsquo;t think they really knew that I was going to commit there today.&rdquo;</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span class="storybody">Wait for it...</span></p>
<p class="rtecenter"><span class="storybody"><a href="http://247sports.com/Player/Lawrence-Marshall-24961/TimelineEvents"><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7286/8734816669_35431ac687_o.png" style="height: 467px; width: 550px;" /></a></span></p>
<p><a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Lawrence-Marshall-Commitment-Reaction-130327" target="_blank">Now twist the knife</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>One phrase Marshall has already been saying is that the &quot;best players in Michigan go to Michigan&quot;.</strong> With that, attention now turns towards his strong-side counterpart and Detroit native Malik McDowell.</p>
<p>&quot;<strong>I&#39;d say Malik is that last part of the puzzle,</strong>&quot; he said. &quot;<strong>Michigan is where the best players in the state want to play and he&#39;s the last one left</strong>. We&#39;ll be turning our attention on him and will try to get him to come on board with us because we&#39;re building something special here.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img alt="" rel="lightbox" src="http://media.giphy.com/media/jShr8wkP38XTO/original.gif" /></p>
<p><a href="http://247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/CompositeRankings?InstitutionGroup=HighSchool&amp;State=MI" target="_blank">According to 247&#39;s composite rankings</a>, Michigan has two of the top four in-state players in Marshall and (oh, hey) Drake Harris, with their sights firmly set on top-ranked Malik McDowell. The Wolverines also have the #9 player in Moe Ways. Michigan State has just the #6 and #7 players (Deon Drake and Byron Bullough) and no other commits among the state&#39;s top 25 prospects.</p>
<p>For comparison, Western Michigan now has the #5 and #8 prospects (Chase Stewart and Chukwuma Okorafor), along with 13th-ranked Jordan Van Dort. Only two uncommitted prospects remain among the state&#39;s top 13 players&mdash;McDowell and his high school teammate, OL Ka&#39;John Armstrong, who&#39;s visited MSU several times but has yet to receive an FBS offer.</p>
<p>Where&#39;s the threat?</p>
<p><em><strong>[Do I have to keep writing? I mean, that&#39;s the perfect place to stop. Okay, if you insist, hit THE JUMP for Chase Winovich&#39;s visit reaction, Jabrill Peppers running pretty fast, a look at the enormous foreign exchange student offered by Michigan, and more.]</strong></em></p>
<a name="more"></a><!--break--><!--break--><h3>
Recruiting Visits With Taylor Lewan Are Very Taylor Lewan</h3>
<p>PA LB <strong>Chase Winovich</strong> is Michigan&#39;s top target to fill the need at strongside linebacker, and with his recruitment winding down it appears this will be a classic Wolverine/Buckeye battle. Winovich made his last planned visit to either school (he visits Pitt next weekend, but they aren&#39;t thought to be serious contenders) over the weekend in Ann Arbor, and per Steve Lorenz <a href="http://michigan.247sports.com/Article/Chase-Winovich-Visit-Reaction-130419" target="_blank">he got quite the campus tour</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;We went up to Michigan on Friday,&quot; he said. &quot;<strong>I got to meet Jake Ryan right away</strong>. I was sitting around with him and the coaches and we were just talking. <strong>Then all of a sudden Taylor Lewan came in and Zach (Chase&#39;s guest) and I went to Chipotle with the two of them and rode on the back of their scooters.</strong> They&#39;re really good guys and are awesome.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Winovich says a decision could come &quot;could happen anytime&quot; once he&#39;s done with his Pitt visit and that his third visit to Ann Arbor &quot;definitely helped Michigan&#39;s case for me.&quot; While there&#39;s still a good chance he ends up at Ohio State, the Wolverines have made a strong late push. Winovich has talked up the importance of getting to know the players and fellow recruits at each school&mdash;on this visit, he also went golfing with Michael Ferns and Wilton Speight. If that&#39;s the ultimate determining factor in his decision, Michigan has done all they can, and it could very well be enough.</p>
<h3>
Importing Only The Finest In Small-Children Destroyers</h3>
<p>Michigan&#39;s latest offer for the 2015 class went out to 6&#39;5&quot;, 275-pound defensive tackle <strong>Hjalte Froholdt</strong>, a Danish foreign exchange student who&#39;s played one year at Warren (OH) Harding. The M Block has much more on Froholdt, who explained how to pronounce his name and <a href="http://www.themblock.com/2013/05/michigan-offers-hjalte-froholdt.html" target="_blank">discussed his uncertain and rather complicated timeline</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><span>Being a sophomore currently, he&#39;s pretty sure he&#39;ll be in the United States next year for his junior year but he explained to me that the Danish school system is completely different from the American concept we are used to, so after next year the situation could get a little complicated.&nbsp; He plans to live it out like this, he will finish his 10th grade year here, stay for his 11th grade year, and then return to Denmark for one final year of education before returning to the United States to attend college and play football.&nbsp; I would assume there is a possibility it doesn&#39;t happen like that, but he assured me he will be going to college and playing football in the United States.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not surprisingly given the above, Froholdt doesn&#39;t know when he&#39;ll make a decision, though he did say Michigan is his current leader&mdash;he also holds offers from Arkansas, Cincinnati, and Louisville.</p>
<p>Froholdt is making the transition to 11-on-11 American football after playing an odd form of 7-on-7 in his native Denmark. Video of 14-year-old giant Dane dominating a bunch of tiny Danes? Check.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tnyHfN15NgE" width="420"></iframe></p>
<p>MGoGChat:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong><span class="kn" title="mgoblog@gmail.com">Brian:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1ix">is he playing pop warner</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="aceanbender@gmail.com">me:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1iy">not entirely sure. but it&#39;s 14-year-old kids playing football in denmark, so the competition is probably... not so good.</span><br />
that video is also two years old.<br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="mgoblog@gmail.com">Brian:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1j0">i think he just likes sitting on six year olds</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="aceanbender@gmail.com">me:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1j1">that&#39;s such a weird league. 7-on-7 football with 3 linemen.</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="mgoblog@gmail.com">Brian:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1j2">i think that&#39;s eight man</span><br />
like they do in iowa and such<br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="aceanbender@gmail.com">me:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1j4">froholdt&#39;s high school coach said it was 7 in <a href="http://michigan.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1504243" target="_blank">tim&#39;s article</a>, but he may have been mistaken.</span><br />
though looking at the film, I think it is 7.<br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="mgoblog@gmail.com">Brian:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1j6">well ok then</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="aceanbender@gmail.com">me:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1j7">so he&#39;s destroying six-year-olds who have way too much space to cover.</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="mgoblog@gmail.com">Brian:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1j8">he just likes sitting on people</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="aceanbender@gmail.com">me:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1j9">yeah</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="mgoblog@gmail.com">Brian:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1ja">not that there&#39;s anything wrong with that</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="aceanbender@gmail.com">me:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1jb">not at all.</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="mgoblog@gmail.com">Brian:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1jc">all of his furniture is probably human shaped</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="aceanbender@gmail.com">me:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1jd">or was, at least.</span><br />
<strong><span class="kn" title="mgoblog@gmail.com">Brian:&nbsp;</span></strong> <span dir="ltr" id=":1je">are you putting this in the recruiting roundup</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Office IM conversations: where strange memes are born and punctuation is entirely optional.</p>
<h3>
Jabrill Peppers: Fast</h3>
<p><iframe src="http://www.coachseye.com/tkbB/e"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/boystrackandfield/index.ssf/2013/05/jabrill_peppers_of_paramus_catholic_breaks_the_state_record_in_the_200.html" target="_blank">Very, very fast</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Jabrill Peppers </strong>of Paramus Catholic blasted a state record <b>20.79, </b>No. 5 in the state nation this season, to win the 200-meter dash in the United Division of the Big North Championships on Friday at River Dell.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/boystrackandfield/index.ssf/2013/05/jabrill_peppers_has_state_record_time_taken_away_due_to_timing_error.html" target="_blank">Wait never mind you&#39;re slow get outta here:</a></p>
<blockquote><p>&quot;There was a shadow/body cast across the image that made it look like the runner was further in front than he was,&#39;&#39; said Lou Fraulo, the head of Fraulo Race Timing, who was working at another meet on Friday.</p>
<p> ...</p>
<p>Fraulo said Peppers&#39; time is 21.37.</p>
<p>&quot;That stands as official,&#39;&#39; said Fraulo.</p>
<p>This all means that Danny Johnson of Rahway is still the state record holder in the 200 with the 20.93 he ran to win the Meet of Champions in 2001.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>DON&#39;T WANT ANYMORE. MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT. <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2013/5/9/4316452/jabrill-peppers-recruit-scouting-report-ridiculous-athlete" target="_blank">THIS IS ALL LIES</a>. NOT A TRUE WINNER.</p>
<h3>
Da&#39;Shawn Hand Headline Status: High School Prom</h3>
<p>Take it away, <a href="http://247sports.com/Article/DaSahwn-Hand-Alabama-Hokies-Michigan-Gamecocks-Gators-130470" target="_blank">247&#39;s Keith Neibuhr</a> ($):</p>
<blockquote><h1>
Hand &#39;all over the place&#39;</h1>
</blockquote>
<p>Well that&#39;s highly inappropri--</p>
<blockquote><p>Of the top five, who stands out?</p>
<p>&quot;I&#39;m all over the place,&quot; Hand said.</p>
<p>Regarding a timeframe for making a decision, apparently there isn&#39;t one.</p>
<p>&quot;When it happens, it happens,&quot; Hand said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Oh. My bad.</p>
<p>Anyway, Hand says that despite a solid trip to Auburn recently, he&#39;s &quot;not really putting them in the hunt or anything,&quot; so we&#39;re still dealing with a Michigan-VT-Alabama battle, most likely. He also said that Michigan&#39;s commits are recruiting him &quot;harder&quot; than those from any other school. Right now he doesn&#39;t have a timeline, won&#39;t name a leader, and has no set visits (though he plans to take a trip to Florida), so his recruitment could go in any number of directions from here, with Michigan almost assuredly in the thick of things.</p>
<h3>
Etc.</h3>
<p>Per Scout&#39;s Michael Clark, Michigan is one of many schools to recently offer four-star NC DE <strong>Lorenzo Featherston</strong>, whose recruitment has <a href="http://michigan.scout.com/2/1290477.html" target="_blank">blown up in the past few weeks</a> ($). Featherston has yet to narrow down his list of schools and mentions the Wolverines among a large group of programs he&#39;d like to check out over the summer.</p>
<p>MLive&#39;s Kyle Meinke talks to Tim Sullivan and Allen Trieu <a href="http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2013/05/michigan_wr_commits_drake_harr.html?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WolverinesSports+%28Michigan+Wolverines+Sports%29&amp;utm_content=Google+Reader" target="_blank">about the recent camp performances </a>of wide receiver commits <strong>Drake Harris</strong> and <strong>Moe Ways</strong>. Lots of good stuff in there.</p>
<p>Five-star corner <strong>Adoree Jackson</strong> <a href="http://247sports.com/Article/Insider-Notes-Adoree-Jackson-CeCe-Jefferson-130096" target="_blank">has a top four</a>($) of Florida State, Florida, and... the two participants in the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2011/12/15/2638256/2011-kraft-fight-hunger-bowl-ucla-vs-illinois-schedule" target="_blank">saddest bowl game of all time</a>, Illinois and UCLA. At least UCLA is an in-state school for Jackson, but the Illini... yeah, I don&#39;t get it <em>[ed-S: he&#39;s originally from Illinois, according to all the comments]</em>. Anyway, he does plan to visit Michigan this summer, and I&#39;m assuming as soon as Jackson watches a Tim Beckman-coached team his top four will look at least 25% different.</p>
<p>The latest in Football Coaches Should Probably Stop Using Technology... <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonKirkSBN/status/332884568669569024" target="_blank">#beaverbarrage</a>.</p>
http://mgoblog.com/content/monday-recruitin-knew-it-all-along#comments2014 recruiting2015 recruitingadoree jacksonchase winovichhjalte froholdtjabrill pepperslawrence marshalllolspartyrecruiting roundupMon, 13 May 2013 17:54:54 +0000Ace78626 at http://mgoblog.com